CHICOPEE, Mass. - Raising money for cancer research is personal for Chicopee Country Club Director Mike O'Neill and his family. It’s why he teed off early Monday morning as part of the annual Ken O'Neill Dawn to Dusk Golf Marathon.

"This is year 24," O'Neill said. "It's the 24th year I've been a part of this. My uncle Ken O'Neill, who the event is named after, Ken O'Neill Dawn to Dusk Golf Marathon, he started it 24 years ago. Him and I played 108 holes the first year and raised $26,000 for the Jimmy Fund."

O'Neill's mother passed away from breast cancer in 1992. It was a turning point for O'Neill's relationship with his uncle.

"I think that's one of the ways we kind of bonded and started this golf marathon," he said. "Because my uncle Ken at the time had colon cancer and he had five bouts of it and he wanted to do something where he could raise some money to give to cancer research to help those that who down the road would be able to be helped through cancer."

The day of golf involves O'Neill and a select group of friends playing six 18-hole rounds at Chicopee Country Club. They play to honor different people who’ve passed away from cancer.

"We do it in honor of somebody every year," he said. "This year we're doing it in honor of Alan Silva, who was a very close friend of mine and our family, and he passed away a year ago of cancer so we're doing it in his honor this year."

O'Neill's uncle died after his battles with colon cancer about five years after they started the charity event. It's been a difficult fight, but O'Neill said he and his family are golfing and working to make an impact.

"In the 80s if you heard cancer, it was basically a death sentence," he said. "Now you hear there's plenty of forms that are treatable. Whether it's chemo or radiation or what have you, there's people that are living a long healthy life after hearing that they had cancer. I know of people that have been living 20 years plus years after they heard the news."

O’Neill said the event collects donations and they have a fundraiser party after the golf is over. He said ultimately, they want to want help as many people as they can because that was his uncle's dream.